Edexel BTEC Level 3 Diploma- Creative Media Production

Unit 1: Pre-Production Techniques for the Creative Media

Industries.

Leah Reay10th September 2012 Leah Reay

Type of Production: Music Video

A music video is a type of film which can vary normally from 3 to 5 minutes long. It can be someone singing live or someone creating a video and miming along to words from a song.

Type of Production: Music Video

Music videos are created for entertainment putting together loads of different clips to create a short film.

Type of Production: Music Video

Music videos are made to show the artists personality. also because they cant move around and dance as much on stage so they mime along in a video.

Finance: sources of financeThere are a wide range of different record labels

such as major and minor labels. The three major labels that are easily recognized are Sony, warner and universal. If you were to get signed on with a record label like this they would manage things like financing and funding for your videos. Some of the more minor labels consist of Ninja Tune, ||| Flava records. When being signed by a minor record as an artists you will have more control over how you want to be portrayed in the media etc.

Finance: sources of finance.

The same goes for independent ones but they might not fund as much. For example warp could be important to some but not others.

Finance: sources of finance

If your an artists who is not on a record label then it is a lot harder in the music industry and it is more likely you will stick to gigs trying to get noticed and heard.

Finances: sources of finance

Not all singers where known or acknowledged at the start and then all of a sudden when they get signed onto major record deals like Sony they become well known.

Finances: sources of finance

For major record labels, their promotion costs are about 20% of the total amount that is invested in each artists or band. normally independent labels spend half that amount. So for example the things that this funding would include is Kit, Music videos, radio and TV promotions, public relations,etc.

Finances: sources of finance

The costs are quite extravagant to break in a new pop act into the industry of music. So the record label is trying to make a point that the artist is on a major record label in a mainstream music industry. The costing's come somewhere close to this....

Overall the cost could come up to US$1.4million. The cost could then break down into separate parts where the money goes on different things like, recording costs (US$200,000-300,000) video production costs (US$50,000-300,000), tour support (US$100,000) marketing and promotional costs (US$200,000-$500,000) and an advance payment of (US$200,000)

Finances: types of finance

crowd funding is becoming increasingly popular, a lot of celebrities and filmmakers are begging to explore it. The meaning of crowd funding is where you set up a page and you can get people to donate certain amounts of money to that page and the more money you donate the more perks you get. For example if you donated 50 pounds you would get a DVD and free t-shirt, if you donated 1000 for example you would get to go to the screening and much more. Some people who want funding might not offer anything but the people that are successful with crowd funding have to show it to a wide range of people, emphasis on the crowd in the name of crowd funding. so you would send out information to as many people as you know telling them to go to a certain website.

Finance: case study

•Silvertip Films can shoot videos ranging from £1000 all the way up to £10,000

Finance:case study

•They have been commissioned to make films for artists and bands like...

•LUKE POTTER- Im coming home

•G3NEE-lady

•SARA CRUZ- Every song

•E.N.V- Don’t be afraid

finance: case study page 3An example of a filmmaker who has produced a few videos for free solely to gain experience is Chris Storrar, I have researched him up on vimeo and there are 19 videos on there. One that I clicked on called Dominique St Ft Junior Brat - work it out. Just by watching it through you can tell that it is quite a low budget film purely because of the location it has been filmed at, also it has only been filmed in one or two basic locations so there are no advanced filming spots.

sources of finance: silvertip case study

Silvertip are an independent company like most are, there are not a lot of major music labels left.

Finance

• DJ IQ – scratch promo

• Dakota – we get along

Those two videos are examples of two completely different style artists who have funded their own videos.

case study finance personel facilities and materials.

• Silvertip films do a variety of services like, vidcasts, live events, editing, actor showreels, promo/corporate, live music concerts and music videos!

Time: Deadlines•Task 1: The purposes of a music video: Deadline- Friday 21st September

•Task 2: A PowerPoint describing the styles, conventions and techniques of music videos: Deadline- Friday 5th October

•Understand requirements for a specific media production: Deadline-Friday, 26th October, 2012

•Task 3: An individual folder that includes research of originating ideas, planning and researching: Deadline- Friday 26th October

•Be able to prepare pre-production documentation for a specific media production:Deadline-Friday,16th November,2012

•Be able to apply pre-production planning for a specific media production: Deadline-Friday, 30th November, 2012

• There could be a few problems caused by the deadline dates, for example two of the deadlines are on the same day. The 26th October on Friday is the date that two pieces of work has to be submitted. So maybe some rescheduling could take place.

Time: Timescale for clearences

I will have 4 weeks from mid September to mid October to get my copyright waiver forms completed. During this time period I will go round to all my actors/actresses and all the members of my crew and ensure that all of the necessary clearance forms are signed.

Time: Availability of equipment.

•The availability of equipment will be 3:00pm – 6:00pm Monday to Friday, bookable in advance from the Beacon Media Equipment room. I have chosen this time as during the day all of the equipment will be in use by students. All camera equipment becomes free for external project use from 3:00pm.

Time: Availability of personnel

The availability of personnel will be 3:00pm – 6:00pm which is also the same as the availability of equipment. The reasons for this are because I am going to need my equipment and personnel at the same time period. Additionally, my crew members usually have study commitments in their free periods during the school day, meaning that they have much more availability once the school day is finished.

Personnel: size of team

In total there are 6 team members. Talent and crew roles will be achieved by a doubling up of responsibilities for some personnel. Four of the personnel involved in my production will have pre-production and editing roles and the same four team members will also have an actor/actress role. The team will consist of myself, Callie, Abby, Louise, Kiera, and Mollie.

Personnel: skills/experience of team members

I chose two of my actresses on the bases of their previous drama experience. Within the drama department, they had participated in two major lead roles in the school productions. I saw this as a huge positive to have in my music video production. Two of the people in my team had good editing skills including myself. I had gained this experience from editing a variety of things from previous projects such as a perfume video advertisement promoting a new perfume range as well as two family wedding videos. which was very helpful and resourceful.

Personnel: Resourcing

•The Beacon School is a specialist Media arts college, it has A-level and GCSE courses in media drama and music as well as BTEC courses in media, drama, music, and performing arts. In each of these cohorts they offer fantastic opportunity for resourcing.

Personnel: Resourcing availability.

All of the equipment I will be using will be from the schools Beacon Media Equipment Room (BMER). I will use the cameras, tripods, spider-dolly's that are available to all sixth form students. This is also the case for my team members as they are all members of sixth form apart from Kiera who is a drama Student at college.

Personnel: Costs•I will greatly reduce costs by using

members of students from my school as all of my actors/actresses that I spoke to were willing to help me with my music video production. They were required to sign the copyright waiver forms, this ensures that the actors and crew are waiving their right to payment. However, team members travel costs will be covered. Each costs per team member will be £8.90 for the expense of catching the train from Sutton to London zone 3.

Pesonnel: Team/Crew cvs

Personnel: Team/Crew CV

Personnel: Team/Crew CV

I have now received a CV from one of my crew members which was the most relevant CV as it had the most experience with media usage. I have also put down my own CV as I also have a in depth media background.

Location: Location Shooting

Location shooting is when you will film on a real set rather than in a studio. My film was location shooting as I filmed it on a set.

Location: Distance/Weather

The distance from the location was reasonably far away, However we only need to get 1 train to the venue which cuts down a lot of the journey time. The weather was only a problem for the start of filming as we needed to get shots travelling there and the outside of the venue. We solved this problem by bringing an umbrella just in case the weather changed. Most of the filming took place inside the venue so weather will not be a huge issue.

Locations: What is the location

The location I have chosen is the Ministry of Sound Venue. This location is located in London. My reasons for choosing this location were because the location itself was reasonably accessible to get to and the entry price to get into the venue itself was also reasonable. There were multiple rooms inside the venue which gave me space and variety of where to film my footage. The scenery and background visuals was also a big element as it was large vibrant crowds to give my music video a busy feel.

Location: Who is the location owned by

I could not find out who the location was owned by although the event was run by Andy C. Andy C is a very recognizable host, he is present at most venues similar to Ministry Of Sound. Although I could not locate the owner I did gather some contact details.

Email: venuehire@ministryofsound.com

Telephone: 020 7740 8682

020 7740 8729

Location: Is it hireable?

The location I have chosen is hireable. For my specific location I will not need to hire it out as there will be an event on the night. There will be a small entry fee of £25. I also have permission to film in the venue.

Location: What is the availability?

The availability of this venue is unknown as I have not looked further into hiring out the venue as there is an event on the night. The venue will be available to film in during the hours of 10pm – 5am.

Location: How much does it cost to hire.

There will be no hire cost but there will be a £25 entry fee.

Location: Recce

What is a recce?

A location recce needs to be done every time you go to visit or view a location for the process of filming. It is something that is done so you can weigh up the pros and cons of that location, a location recce is put in place to see if the location is suitable and so you can find out everything you need to know about that particular location like access points, nearby facilities etc.

Location: RecceThis is basic

example of what a location recce form looks like. As you can see there are possible problems that could come with using this location. As well as possible problems there is also a section that explains what risks could come from these possible problems.

Codes of practice and regulation: Mechanical copywrite protection society

The (MCPS) which stands for mechanical copywrite protection society was founded in 1911 but really became recognized in 1924. The idea of having the MCPS was not to make profit but to represent the mechanical rights and pay royalties to artists, songwriters etc. I will need to have a full understanding of the MCPS company as I need to know that the music track I will be using in my video is ok for me to use so no problems arise.

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Codes of practice and regulation: Location permissions

Location permission is something I will need for all locations used in my script. I will have to be careful of things like health and safety risks around the area. For example, traffic could become an issue if I was filming along a street or a busy road I may need to get permission to block that road of or put regulations in place to prevent any accidents occurring. As I will be filming in a large music venue in London I will either need permission to film there or I will need to arrange public liability insurance. This would be in case me or my crew broke or damaged any property then I would be covered. For my venue I have I have been given permission to film in there. Health and safety risks will be there responsibility.

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Codes of practice and regulation: Ofcom

• Ofcom is a major UK communications service that offers more than one service and deals with things like TV and radio sectors, mobiles, postal services, fixed line telecoms as well as the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. Ofcom must follow the rules and guidelines of the communications act 2003 as well as ensuring the UK customers and community and safe from scams and sharp practices. there main aim is to further the interest of citizens and consumers. it is there priority to do this. to be able to achieve what they set out to do they will need funding which they receive from the industry for regulating broadcasting and communications networks. Ofcom's actual role is implementing and enforcing the law, not in a technical aspect.

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Codes of practice and regulation: Board of film classification

• The BBFC is an independently run company. All of the funding they need comes from themselves and the money that they receive through the running of their services. There responsibility as an organisation is to ensure the censorship of films. The Board of film classification was set up by the British film industry.

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case study finance perosnel fascilities and materials

Here are some of the prices for silvertip films to shoot a video for you..

Half day If you want a half day shoot then they will only do singers/rappers and not bands, they last for a duration of 5 hours this consists of 1 day pre-production ½ day shoot with a director and cameraman, shooting in HD and 1 day of editing. It is recommended that these shoots are ideal for solo acts or rappers who are only staying in one location. All of this comes to 1000 pounds and above.

case study finance personel facilities and materials.

Full day

Full day shoots will include bands aswell as singers and narrative. They last for a full day so 10 hours which is double a half day shoot. This will consists of 1 day pre-production, 1 day’s shoot inc director and cameraman shooting in HD and 2 days worth of editing. Idealy if a band is being shot then do it in single locations but if it is solo acts then you can do multiple locations and include a narrative. All of this comes to 1500 plus.

case study finance personal facilities and materials

Two daysTwo day shoots will last 10 hours per day so double a full day shoot this will consist of, 1 days pre-production, 2 days shooting inc director and cameraman shooting in HD. The editing will take 3 days and you can also make changes if you wish which you are not able to do on the other two. These shoots are more appropriate for bands and solos with a full narrative. They can be very complex shoots and more equiptment will need to be brough along like extra camera equiptment and lighting. All of this comes to 2500+

Finance: Commissioner

What is a commissioner?A commissioner is the person who commissions a music video on behalf of the record label, he or she could be an employee for the record label or just a freelancer who has been temporarily contracted by the record label. The commissioner will hold the copyright for the music video unless he or she is employed by the record label, in which case they will hold the rights. Once the video has been completed the video director usually waives all rights to it. This is indeed a big setback for directors and is one of their greatest grievances, especially with lower budget productions.

Finance: Copyright/Delivery Materials

Who holds the copyright?The copyright in the video will belong to the record company. Keep in mind that copywrite only exists

once the music or words have been recorded or written down.

what do the terms “delivery materials” and “format” refer to?

This just means the different formats you have to deliver the music video in for example the master and DVD, it could include photo skills. So they just outline this for you. It is how the record label receives your music weather it is via cd , a link over email or DVD. the delivery date is the day you have to deliver the music by.

Finance: Licenses/Video Shoot

Who's responsibility is licenses?For published music you will need to obtain a publishing licence from the copyright holder also known as the music publisher. Or the producer will be responsible for obtaining clearances and licences for all material used in connection with the video.How is an artists involvement in a video shoot managed?The record company will arrange for the artist to be present during the shooting period if needed. It is usually the record company who will meet any further costs incurred by the producer as a result of any failure of the artist to attend at the scheduled time.

Finance: Approvals

• What is meant by “approvals”?• This is when the record company as well as

the artist/band will have rights to be consulted on and have the say-so on the production of the video.

finances: materials

•cannon lagrea

•imoveie to edit with a mac mini

•we have cameras that we can put on tripods

•look up spellings*

Finance: Equipment

• Website:sohobroadcastThis is the arri 1k 1000w fresnel lamp

To hire this piece of lighting equiptment it costs £25+vat for a day and £75+vat for a week.

To hire this cannon camera for a week it would cost you £140+vat for a day and £560+vat for a week.

The kit uncludes….DLSR Canon 5D/7D Kit, Tripod, Zoom and Mic

Finance: EquipmentWebsite:vmiTo hire a lighting kit for one day would cost £60 , for two days £120 and for 3 days would cost £180 so it comes to £60 per day of use.• these are the• prices to hire a • camera for ho -• wever long you• wish to hire it • for.

lighting

camera

Finance Equipment• Website:dvcamerahire• the package and • equipment that • you will receive • when you buy the• cannon camera is• camera bag, manual, 16• gig card, software,• battery, 5d body mkll, • charger and mains lead• and AV lead, USB cable • •

These are the hire prices for camera lighting.

These are the hire prices for the cannon camera.

Facilities: Houses http://www.cruet.com/crew/The link above directs you to a facility house. This facility house offers specially trained crew members that get trained by cruet themselves. If I wanted to hire any crew members I would have to use these contact details.

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Facilities: HousesAt cruet they offer lots of different equipment ranging from, lighting, lenses, cameras, monitoring, matteboxes, sound, grip, dit and transport.

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Facilities: Houses

As well as offering equipment cruet also offer transport for both crew and equipment.

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Materials:

• I visited the website www.freesound.org this website offered a range of different sounds that are downloadable. It showed the most popular sounds and how many people had downloaded them.

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Materials:

I had also visited another website called www.unsigned.com this website was an independent music website. Independent artists had there music available on this website. The music was downloadable. However I had to ask permission from the independent artists as to whether I can use there music for my video.

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Materials: Scream video

Who was the designer? The designer of the scream music video was Tom Foden.

What other work had he done? Tom Foden has worked on many productions. He is most known for The Village (2004), Immortals (2011), One hour photo (2002), Matchstick men (2003).

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Materials: Scream VideoWho was in his team?

Choreographed – Travis Payne, LaVelle Smith Jnr, Tina Landon and Sean Cheesman.

Director – Mark Romanek

The main specialists that were involved in the making of the scream music video where Mark Romanek and Tom Foden. Mark Romanek was the director of the shoot which meant he had huge involvement with everything going on. Tom Foden actually designed the video therefor he also had a huge part to play.

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Materials: Scream VideoAlthough Tom Foden had main involvement with the designing of the music video he did have a team of art specialists working underneath him. It was a group of 3 people that consisted of Richard Berg, Jeff Hall and Martin Mervel. Tom Foden decided he would split up the production of work into 3 different sections, one section being easy one section being medium and one section being hard. As his team where specialists they would be able to complete this task within a one month period.

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Materials: Scream Video

Expert/Talent

The main talent of the production was Janet and Michael Jackson. Already veteran dance performers, they where trained by a specialist in choreography, his name was Travis Payne. He also had background experience as a producer and director.

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Materials: Scream VideoTravis payne is a very well known individual in the business of directing etc. He currently has his own website. Below are all of the services he offers and what he has already taken part in

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Finance: PackagesDescribe the starter packages that are offered for low budget…

There are 3 different packages that are offered for low budget enterprises. The first package is, Live performance video – 1 track which includes…

2 camera coverage of performance. Audience & venue shots.

All cut together to a studio track or live audio (a feed from mixing desk will be required)

3 days editing.

Master copy delivered on DVD.

Finance: Packages

The second package is, Live performance video – 2 tracks which includes…2 camera coverage of performance. Audience & venue shots.*All cut together to a studio track or live audio (a feed from mixing desk will be required)5 days HD edit suite & editor.Master copy delivered on DVD.

Finance: Packages

And the final package is, Studio shoot (1 track) – white or blue screen, which includes…Studio filming. White or blue screen for FX background.Edited to a pre-existing studio track.Director, lighting cameraman, camera assistant, prod.assistant.HD camera, track / dolly for moving shots.5 days HD edit suite & editor.Master copy on DVD & Broadcast tape.

Facilities HousesWhat talent have silvertip worked with? Silvertip have worked with a wide range of people varying from bands rappers and even solo singers, for example

E.N.V , silvertip films have now done 2 full length videos with them.

MESH 29 , this is actually a band but in the video that silvertip films has recently done with them focused on the two main members

PersonnelSong writing – Kesha Sebert, Joshua Coleman, Lukasz

Gottwald, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Benjamin Levin

Production, instruments and programming – Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Ammo

Background vocals – Rani Hancock, Lukasz Gottwald, Sam Holland, Benjamin Levin, Emily Wright

Engineering – Emily Wright, Chris "TEK" O'Ryan, Sam Holland

Assistant engineering – Tatiana Gottwald, Jeremy Levin He has also directed for more than 26 songs including Kesha –

we r who we r

PersonnelWhat skills and experience did the key crew have?

Dr.luke – has helped produce many songs like, Kesha – tik tok, Katy Perry – I kissed a girl, Katy Perry – last Friday night, as well as Kesha – we r who we r. He has worked with many different artists which include, Kesha, b.o.b, Taio Cruz, Katy Perry, Cher Lloyd, and numerous others. He has got skills such as song writing, record producing and remixing. He is hugely responsible for the rising of Katy Perry and Kesha.

Benjamin Levin – Benjamin Levin is not only a song write he is also a musician and a rapper himself. He didn’t start of on his own he met Dr.luke who taught him a lot about producing and song writing for videos. He then went on to produce moves like jagger, stereo hearts and many more.

Personnel

What was the availability of the artist? And what was the budget for the video? And what is the directors availability now?The song was produced on her worldwide get sleazy tour, the video filming was spread out over a 48 hour period of time.

Kesha is not currently on tour but has just released a song called “die young” so she has been occupied.

Personnel: Raykay

• What experience does the director have? What skills does he/she have?

• www.raykay.com is the website for a director who has worked with the likes of Justin Bieber, Britney spears, lady gaga, Beyonce and so on. He is also a professional and very successful photographer and has gained a lot of experience through out his career.

Personnel

• What resources does he/she have access to? what is his/her availability?

• At this present moment Kay is developing a project with Gil Adler and reverie partners for the film paranormalacy. So he isn't on hand.

Personnel

• What experience does the director have, what skills does he/she have

• www.Georgeant.com – he is not only a director but also a videographer he has studied 3D Animation & Multimedia Productions at AKTO Art and Design college, validated by Middlesex University in London. He has not only done music videos but also short films and produced 22 music videos. Some of them are mark Angelo feat. Mary Jeras – insane. Nicko – say my name and many more.

Personnel

• What resources does he/she have access to. What other work has she/ she done.

• So as well as the music videos he has produced 1 short film called imperfect path.

Personnel

• What is his availability. What is his rates?

Personnel

• Tyler Gregory Okonma, better known by his stage name Tyler, The Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is known as the leader and co-founder of the alternative hip hop collective Odd Future, and has rapped on and produced songs for nearly every Odd Future release. Okonma also creates all the artwork for the group's releases and said in an interview with DJ Semtex that he designs all the group's clothing and other merchandise as well. He is currently signed to English independent record label XL Recordings, and his own record label, Odd Future Records.

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Materials

http://www.escapade.co.ukI visited the escapade website first and decided to go with a firefighter costume which came to a price of £36.99

http://www.escapade.co.uk/occupations-costumes-sale/fire-captain-costume-m-l-lave.asp

http://www.masqueradecostume.co.uk/theatrical

costume hire charges and depositsThe next website I visited was the masqueradecostume website which I found was a lot more expensive, harder to find a cheaper costume and if you did it wasn't of the best quality. although I did find a gangster costume for £35.50 which I thought would be fairly suitable at that price.

http://www.masqueradecostume.co.uk/cart.php?orderref=MASQ-2013-01-11-VKOGXI

costumehire@btconnect.com

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Materials

http://www.fairygodmother.co.uk

The final website I visited for the fairygodmother website and I chose the new York cop costume for a hire price of £36.00 which is also similar to the other websites.

http://www.fairygodmother.co.uk/uniforms-occupations-costume-hire.html

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Materials

All of the 3 websites I visited all sold similar costumes I found that the escapade and the fairygodmother costume websites where the best and with most of there costumes being priced between 25- 35 pounds whereas a lot of the costumes on the masqueradecostume website where priced a lot higher some of them at 60-70 pounds. although the fairygodmother is only hire costumes so you cant actually buy it for that price so overall the best website for the escapade costume hire. As well as it being the cheapest i felt it was more aimed at the style of costumes i was looking for.

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List of propsWebsite: tvfilmprops•Treasure hunt fruit machine.• Samsung SGH-M110 Mobile Phone.• Hitatchi television.

Website: keeleyhire• Beretta 92FS Pistol

Website: grangerhertzog• Brushed aluminium modern base with either bar headboard W153 x L207 x H95 cm (optional - add 5ft mattress BED005).• Circular cream fine shagpile rug with shimmering fleck D200 cm.• Circular oak top and grey metal stool with rounded concave seat H60cm.

Materials: Props

Materials: Props

Materials: Props

Materials: Props

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Materials: Music video

http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/06/07/new-cgi-music-video-remember-by-charles-de-meyer/This is a music video clip I found that uses computer generated images. The people behind the making of the video are Director: Charles De Meyer production: monodot VFX/post: Chuck Eklectric (Charles De Meyer, Benjamin Mousquet, Mathieu Cadet, Cristophe Lebrun.

Materials: Scream Video• Who was the designer?• The concept of the video was by Romanek but the

designer was Tom Foden.• What other work had he done?• He had also worked with these people….. Closer

(Nine Inch Nails), Scream (Michael Jackson), Bedtime Stories (Madonna), Weird (Hanson). Who was in his team?

• Travis Payne, LaVelle Smith Jnr, • Tina Landon in May 1995, • and Sean Cheeseman, • directed by Mark Romanek, • with the production being designed by Tom Foden.

Materials: Scream Video

What new information does the behind-the-scenes film provide about the production of the video?

Jackson and Janet Jackson had a total of 4 choreographers. The video itself was a combination of visual effects. There was emphasis on how Michael and Janet Jackson was feeling the video was sending a message to the audience in a surrealistic way.

Contributorshttp://lightenginefilms.co.uk/w/doku.php?id=start&gclid=CLfkxs3InLQCFePHtAodEm8AFQNycki Simz: my radio songThis video was shot on the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh totally guerrilla style in august 2012. the director of the video is Dan Hart.

Contributors: Lightenginefilms

Contributorshttp://www.epikmusicvideos.com/portfolio/2-dar.htmlDar – monsterDar is a musical duo, Director Tai Campbell was inspired by the toughness and bravado of their track, ‘Monstar’, and crafted a music video reminiscent of a comic •book-style thriller, with an aesthetic •recalling both the gritty noir styling •of Frank Miller, and Rupert Wyatt’s •2008 crime flick The Escapist. •The video was filmed at Camberwell •studios.

Contributors

Contributors• http://www.echovideo.co.uk/portfolio/spiz-music-vide

o/

Spiro - hurricane

Spiro was after a simple, cost-effective video to help promote his music. This official music video for the track ‘Hurricane’ was shot in and

• Around Brighton in a day

• By Echo using a Canon

• 550D and GoPro HD

• Hero

Contributors